t of mere curiosity. To
aid them in their plan, they had recourse to a female ascetic. She
went to the wife, and attempted to move her to pity by showing her a
weeping bitch, which she said was once a woman, but was transformed
into a dog because of her hard-heartedness [for this device worked
with better success; see Gesta Romanorum, chap. XXVIII]. The wife
divined the plot and the motive of the young merchants, and appeared
to be glad to receive them; but when they came at appointed times,
she drugged them, and branded them on the forehead with an iron dog's
foot. Then she cast them out naked in a dung-heap. The procuress was
later served even worse: her hose and ears were cut off. The young
wife, fearing that for revenge the four merchants might go slay her
husband, told her whole story to her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law
praised her for her conduct, and devised a plan to save her son. The
wise wife disguised herself as a merchant, and embarked in a ship to
the country where her husband was. When she arrived there, she saw
him in the midst of a circle of merchants. He, seeing her afar off
in the dress of a man, thought to himself, "Who may this merchant be
that looks so like my beloved wife?" But she went to the king, said
that she had a petition to present, and asked him to assemble all his
subjects. He did so, and asked her what her petition was. She replied,
"There are residing here four escaped slaves of mine; let the king
give them back to me." She was told to pick out her slaves, which she
did, choosing the four merchants who had their heads tied up. When
asked how these distinguished merchants' sons could be her slaves, she
said, "Examine their foreheads, which I marked with a dog's foot." So
done. The truth came out; the other merchants paid the wife a large sum
of money to ransom the four, and also a fine to the king's treasury.

There can be no doubt of a rather close relationship between the
Persian and the Indian stories; nor can there be any doubt, it seems
to me, of the relationship of these two with the "Chastity Wager"
cycle. The additional details in Somadeva's narrative connect it with
European Maerchen; e.g., J. F. Campbell, No. 18, and Groome, No. 33.

Our story of the "Golden Lock," as well as the variants, is
unquestionably an importation from Europe; but what the immediate
source of the tale is, I am unable to say. For the convenience of
any, however, who are interested in this group of